Campaigners have accused Hammersmith and Fulham Council of denying them the opportunity to object to an office complex in their street.

Planning permission has been granted for offices on the site of a former treacle factory in Goodwin Road, Shepherd's Bush.

Residents of nearby Boscombe Road object, saying it would make their flats "unacceptably dark and closed in" and that it would exacerbate existing flooding problems.

The residents have successfully fought variations of the proposal since 2001 and were prepared to resume battle when a similar scheme was raised in June.

Residents, led by David Lees and Miranda Jones, say they contacted council officers to find out the deadline for objections.

They claim they were told on three occasions that the application was invalid, that they would be informed when a new application was submitted and objections sent ahead of time would not be considered.

But, unbeknown to the residents, the application was re-submitted and approved by council officers and they only discovered it had been passed this month.

Officers deny telling residents

not to object.

"The officer refutes that he told you the application was invalid and had been withdrawn and that he advised you not to write a letter of objection," wrote council planning chief Catherine Smyth in an email to the group.

"There is a very strong feeling that we have been duped," she told him in an email, adding that she

was appalled at the council's response, which suggested "that three people who called the council lied about the information they received".

The residents have complained to the chief executive, calling for planning permission to be withdrawn and for the planning officers involved to be disciplined.

"As a result of false information repeatedly given to residents by officers, we have been denied the chance to object to this develop

ment," the objectors wrote.

"A development which should have been refused permission has been permitted without proper consultation and in breach of due process."

This week a council spokeswoman said: "This is now a formal complaint and, now that we have responded to the initial complaint from Mr Lees and residents he represents, they have 21 working days to contact the director of environment if they wish to take it further."